A couple of days ago I posted about the “instant on” feature that Dell has now included in its new range of Latitude laptops.  Essentially the idea is that  included with your normal operating system you have a small but completely separate sub system that will let you have very quick access to the Internet and your emails. This sub system is based on an embedded Linux-based internet appliance-like environment running off a flash memory chip,  linked directly to the BIOS. This avoids having to boot up your full system or to continuously maintain it in a “suspend” state saving both  time and battery life.

Dell and Asus

This a pretty interesting idea and not one that just Dell is looking at either.  Asus have also been developing systems and components that have this capability.  The Asus brand name for
this is called Express Gate and is essentially an Asus branded version of the Splashtop product from embedded Linux developer DeviceVM.

Laptops and motherboards

Asus have been aggressively introducing this into a significant proportion of its motherboard range and like Dell is now selling laptops which include this feature.  We will  have a look at a couple of the Asus laptops and some of the feature of Splashtop in future posts.  However if you are building your own PC and like the idea, you can now get Asus motherboards that support Express Gate. The Asus P5Q Deluxe Motherboard is a good example of a well rated board that includes Express Gate.

I haven’t been able to actually try any “instant on” system yet. Have you?